Lighting fixture for sewing machines



June 29, 1943. A. LIABASTRE LIGHTING FIXTURE FOR 'SEWING MACHINES Filed Marcus, 1942 INVENTOR.

27L BERT L/HB (7277M /2 BY CEMM ATTORNEY Patented June 29, 1943 UNITED LIGHTING FIXTURE FOR SEWING MACHINES Albert Liabastre, Manhasset, N. Y. Application March 6, 1942, Serial No. 433,558

3 Claims. (Cl. 240-214) This invention relates to improvements in lighting fixtures for sewing machinesandymore particularly, to that type of fixture which serves to illuminate the work at the needle point, in contradistinction to overhead or overall illumination.

Fixtures of this general character have heretofore been extensively employed on production machines. They consist generally of a bracket adapted to be mounted upon the head of the machine and serving to support a tubular arm on which a small lamp housing is mounted in such position as to direct a beam of light upon the work passing beneath the foot of the machine. This bracket, tubular arm and lamp housing are mounted in rigid adjustment with respect to the machine head. However, the vibration in production machines is particularly severe and this vibration is transmitted through these rigid connections to the incandescent lamp within the lamp housing. As a result the life of such lamp is extremely short and frequent replacement is required.

The object of the present'invention is to provide a fixture so constituted as to minimize or substantially eliminate the transmission of vibration from the machine head tothe lamp and thus increase the effective life of the latter v 7 Speaking generally, "the invention utilizes a bracket embodying athreadedstud bolt adapted to replace the stud of the knee operated lifter arm of the machine, so that the bracket may be mounted on the machine by removing the conventional stud of the latter and substituting therefor the stud bolt of the supporting bracket. Attached to and forming part of the bracket is V a rigid yoke having upstanding posts of resilient may be desirable to direct the beam of light upon the work to be performed.

With the fixture of the present invention, the rubber posts are associated with the yoke and ,bracket and serve to form an elastic cushion be-. tween the lamp housing. and the machine head,

so that the vibration of the machine is not transmitted to the lamp but is so effectually damped that the life of the latter is materiallyprolonged. Another feature of the invention consists in an improved attachment between the link and the lamp housing which is so constituted, "as hereinafter more fully described, as to distribute strains between the lamp housing and the reflector, 'so that a person grasping the reflector or lamp housing to manipulate the lamp into proper adjustment, will not damage any of the parts or produce undue strain on any particular part, as has heretofore been all too commonly the case. Features of the invention, other than those adverted to, will be apparent from the hereinafter detailed description and claims, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

The accompanying drawing illustrates one practical embodiment of the invention, but the construction therein shown is to be understood limits of the invention.

Figure 1 is a rear view of a sewing machine head showing the present invention associated therewith.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of bracket, yoke and rubber posts of my device.

Figure 3 is a section on the line 33 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the fitting for securing the lamp housing and reflector to the stay link.

' In the accompanying drawing, l designates the head of a production machine which is shown as mounted in the usual manner upon an appropriate work table 2. These parts are conventional in every respect and a detailed description thereof is unnecessary, other than to point out that the part 3 is the knee operated lifter arm by means of which the foot of the machine may be knee lifted when desired. This lifting arm is commonly secured to the back of the head for pivotal movement upon a threaded stud which screws into the head.

In mounting the fixture of the1 present invention in cooperative relation with such a machine, this threaded stud is removed and is adapted to be replaced by a stud bolt 4 shown best in Figures 2 and 3. This stud bolt has a threaded part 5 which screws into the tapped hole in the head and adjacent which is a cylindrical portion 6 serving as a bearing pin for the knee operated lifter arm. The bolt 4 has a hexagonal head I by means of which it may be screwed into place and beyond the head is a cylindrical portion 8, terminating in a reduced threaded portion 9.

Associated with the stud bolt 4 is an L-shaped bracket H], the upright arm of which is perforated to be passed over the cylindrical portion 8 of the bolt and between this bracket and the head I is interposed a dished friction disk II. A Washer l2 bears against the opposite side of the upright arm of the bracket and serves to take the wear of a nut l3 screwed upon the threaded portion 9 andbearing against the shoulder of the stud at the base of said threaded portion, When the parts are assembled, as shown in Fig ure 3, the bracket is frictionally held in any posiu The stay link 34 thus has a universal joint contion of rotation coaxially of the bolt 4, by virtue of the friction between the parts. Nevertheless adjustment may be manually accomplished, as may be desired. Mounted on the horizontal arm of'the bracket I0 is a yoke l4 composed of two spaced apart plates l5 and [6. The plate I5 is provided with an integral laterally extending tongue 11 and both the tongue -I l and the horizontal arm of the bracketrlil are perforated for the passage of a clamping bolt l8. Between the head of the clamping bolt and the bracket is interposed a dished friction disk it so that when the bolt is. tightened against the shouldered portion thereof, this friction disk is placed under sufficient axial compression to permit adjustment of the yoke'on the axis of the bolt but to frictionally hold the parts in adjusted relation againstim advertent relative movement.

-Positioned between'thedistant ends of the plates [5 and I6 of the yoke are upstanding resilient posts 28 and?! which may be conveniently of fairly liable rubber.- erally of rectangular section. Their lower ends are tightly clamped between the plates I5 and 16 :by bolts 22 to hold them in upstandin par allel relation. Theupper-ends of the posts are perforated at23 to receive a tubular arm 24 These posts are gene adapted to be passed through both of them. This tubular arm is gripped firmly in position by means of straps 24 embracing the perforated ends of the posts and secured thereto by bolts 25.

The arrangement is such as to frictionally hold the tubular arm, but to permit of its manual rotary and longitudinal adjustment within the perforations 23.

Extending through the tubular arm 24 is a BX cable 25 leading from any suitable source of current supply and extending to a lamp housing ifi. Within the. lamp housing is housed a lamp socket to which the current is fed and within the socket an incandescent lamp is positioned.

, Projecting into the lower end of the lamp housg ing 26 is the shank of a reflector 21 and clamped to both the shank of the reflector and the shank of the lamp housing is a fitting shown in detail in Figure 4. 'Ihis fitting is formed by two coniplementary sheet metal stampings 28. Both stampings are provided in their upper portions with opposed clamping jaws 29 adapted to grip a portion of the lamp housing, while the lower portions of the stampings have opposed clamping jaws 30 adapted to grip the shank of the reflector. Clamp-ing bolts 3| draw the stampings together to secure them to the lamp housing and reflector.

, The stampings are, moreover, provided with rearwar dly projecting lugs 32 provided interiorly with sockets or depressions 33 forming the female units of a ball and socket joint, the male articulating element of which is secured to one end of a stay link 34. The other end of such link has a like articulating ball end received in opposed nection with both the tubular arm 24 and the lamp housing and reflector 26 and 21, thereby providing for tilting adjustment of the lamp housin into the most eificient position to illuminate the work to be done.

' One advantage of the fitting shown-in Figure 4 is that it ties the stay link to both the lamp housing and reflector, so that either or both may be grasped to adjust the lamp, without placing undue strain on either of these parts. Another advantage is that these parts are clamped with suflicient rigidity so that the natural tendency of BX cable to straighten will not tend to move the lamp out of adjustment.

When the fixture is mounted on a machine as shown in Figure 1, no part of the lamp housing has rigid connection with any part of the machine. The only connections between the light source and the machine are through the flexible BX cable and through the resilient posts 2|] and Consequently the vibration of the machine will not be transmitted to the lamp. On the contrary, it will be cushioned and damped as to be negligible that it will not materially affect the life of the lamp. Moreover, it is found in practice that by eliminating lamp vibration I obtain a much more steady illumination of the work, in marked contrast to the shimmering light so commonly present under prior practice. All parts of the fixture are adjustable within relatively wide limits, so that the light may be directed upon the work in a most eflicient manner.

In Figure 1 of the accompanying drawing, I have shown the invention as mounted on a machine of the Singer type, but it will be understood that the invention may be associated not only with the particular model shown, but with other Singer models, and with machines of other types, without departing from this invention. In some cases a difierent stud bolt thread may be required, but this is contemplated.

The foregoing detailed description sets forth the invention in its preferred practical form, but the invention is to :be understood as fully commensurate with the appended claims.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: v 1.. A lighting fixture for sewing machines; compri ng, a stud bolt threaded to screw into a tapped hole in a sewing machine head, a bracket mounted on said bolt for pivotal adjustment coaxially thereof, a yoke supported on the bracket for pivotal adjustment on an axis normal to the axis of the bolt, resilient posts secured to the yoke and extending in substantially parallel spacedapart relation, said posts being provided near their free ends with alined openings, a tubular arm passing through said openings, straps embracing the free ends of the posts and secured to said posts to reinforce the walls of the openings therein and bind the posts firmly to the tubular arm, a lamp housing and reflector, a stay link having a universal joint connection with the lamp housing and reflector and with the tubular arm, and a lighting cable passing through the tubular arm to the lamp housing.

2. A lighting fixture for sewing machines comprising a yoke, means for adjustably mounting said yoke on a sewing machine head, a pair of resilient posts carried by the yoke and extending upwardly therefrom in substantially parallel spaced apart relation to one another, said posts being provided near their upper ends with alined openings, a tubular arm slidably passing through said openings, a strap embracing the upper end of each post and secured to said post to reinforce the Wall of the opening therein and bind the post firmly to the tubular arm to hold said arm against inadvertent longitudinal movement through said opening, a lamp housing mounted cable passing through the tubular arm to the lamp housing.

3. A lighting fixture for sewing machines comprising a yoke having two parallel spaced apartv 15 5 relation to one another, a tubular arm slidably passing through said openings inthe posts and frictionally gripped by the walls of said openings ,to hold the arm against inadvertent longitudinal movement through said openings, a lamp housing I 10 mounted on one end of the tubular arm, a lighton one end of the tubular arm, and a lighting ing cable passing through the tubular arm to the lamp housing, and means for adjustably supporting one of the plates of the yoke on the sewing machine head.

' ALBERT LIABASTRE. 

